Law Enforcement Issues - Essay Example

? Word Count 2760 d 4th June Pursuing Criminal Justice - Law Enforcement Law enforcement is one of the most important components of criminal justice system. It helps in providing justice to the affected persons in the society by reducing the crime rate and by faster processing of criminal cases. In USA, President’s Commission on law enforcement and administration of justice played significant role in bringing several positive changes in the law enforcement or Police system. It has also undergone tremendous changes after the terrorist attack of World Trade Centre in USA on 11th September, 2001. Several strict regulations in law enforcement were introduced because of which similar terrorist attacks could be avoided after 2001. Though law enforcement brought numerous positive changes, it also resulted in inconvenience to public in terms of free movement and employment and government could successfully handled the public resistance. In future, the big challenges for law enforcement would be in the form of terrorism, regionalism and drug trafficking. The coordination of US Police department with the law enforcement agencies of other nations like Mexico and Columbia would certainly help in reducing the crime rate including drug trafficking. It is predicted that the law enforcement would be highly flexible and dynamic in nature for successfully handing these challenges. Key words : law enforcement, criminal justice, terrorism, drug trafficking a. What is your definition of justice as it relates to the law enforcement? Explain the origins of law enforcement. Discuss how you intend to promote your definition of justice in your intended criminal justice career. Equal treatment of persons in the circumstances of unfair means is most important for any welfare society. Justice is needed to be provided to the people when they are subjected to ill treatment in the society. Hence, justice can be defined as any type of practice which helps the people to get reasonable compensation or treatment so that fair means of utilities and services would be guaranteed. In other words, justice means the process of facilitating and doing right things (Sandel, 2009). This holds more relevance when criminal acts are committed in the society. We regularly come across different incidents in the world related to forceful killings, rape, sabotage and drug trafficking etc. and the persons who are affected due to this must be provided with the sufficient justice and at he same time, the other people in the society should be provided with right and safe environment for dignified way of life. The justice can be provided by various measures like framing rules in the form of legislation, enforcing the same through police or any other parallel law control system and through thorough judicial review and through corrections in the form jail reforms (Mays and Ruddell, 2007). In other words, the justice can be ensured only by establishing these three different components of criminal justice system i.e. law enforcement through police, law adjudication through courts and corrections in the form of jails and parole (Siegel and Senna, 2007). Since time immemorial, the people were subjected through various criminal justice procedures and irrespective of the region, the Kings used to appoint some specific experienced noble persons for providing the justice based on case to case. One common principle in all these types of criminal justice procedures is to apply the element of truth finding and analysis after going through all the related parties of the incident and delivering judgment in favor of the affected persons or victims. While delivering the judgment, the emphasis was always given to create an element of fear among other people that they would be punished strictly if indulged in illegal activities and this helped the society to find less criminal rate. This has given foundation for the modern courts and their legal principles through out the world. At the same time, in some of the cases based on the merit, the opportunity was given to transform from bad to good nature and after thorough assessment, the transformed persons or prisoners were released. This also made foundation to modern day jail reforms and prisoner release guidelines based on their good behavior. In the ancient period, there were people who were not cooperative with the law implementing agency and they used to be captured by the soldiers for the implementation of criminal justice. This has formed the base for the modern police system. In this way, the definition of justice has given relevant foundation to modern or present day practices of criminal justice system. The study and analysis of different cases related to criminal justice system gives us a feeling that each case is unique in its nature and thorough analysis of facts is highly essential for delivering the final judgment. Hence, in shaping the career of the people who are involved in criminal justice system, critical understanding and analysis of definition and origin of justice would be of immense help. b. Identify three current practices of the law enforcement that demonstrate the successful achievement of your definition of justice in a global realm. Would everyone agree that these practices demonstrate justice? If not, explain why. If so, might these practices also result in an injustice occasionally? Explain your answer. Among the three important components of criminal justice system i.e. law enforcement, law adjudication and corrections, my choice is with the law enforcement. Though each component is instrumental in providing the necessary justice to the affected persons, law enforcement can be considered as most important component of criminal justice system. Let us analyze various important current practices of law enforcement that help in ensuring successful achievement of justice through out the world. Moral values are inculcated to all the persons since the time of their birth. This holds true in all the regions of the world. However, while practicing the same, people fail in different occasions and several times they commit mistakes causing loss to the interests of the others and in majority cases, the culprits don’t accept their mistakes. This necessitates the origin of law enforcement in the form of Police who respond quickly to the complaints of the victims and make systematic enquiry and thorough investigation, they submit the persons to the courts where final judgment would be delivered. In this process, they play vital role in providing uniform justice to different groups of the people in the society. Hence, law enforcement plays important role in successful achievement of justice in all the regions of the world. Let us see the example of USA where law enforcement agencies played key role in providing criminal justice (Neubauer and Fradella, 2010). In USA, President’s Commission on law enforcement and administration of justice was initiated in late 1960s and played vital role in formulating effective law enforcement practices which aim at prevention of crime in free society. This has also helped in inculcating moral values and following rules and regulations that ensure minimum standards of conduct for all the persons living in a common place. The Police are given enormous power for ensuring law and order in the society and they have to prioritize the cases based on their nature and extent of crime involved. If it is a local in nature, the case can be investigated at their level and the persons who are found guilty would be produced in the court for further course of legal action. In case, the criminal involved is found to have international connections on illegal means and they may become a potential threat to the national security, the culprits may be surrendered to bigger national agencies like Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the cases of national security, the Police may face stiff resistance from the culprits which may affect their life and hence they are given exclusive powers to use full power to control the culprits. Hence, the Police are given lot of flexibility and freedom in their duties and powers so that the crime rate can be controlled effectively. No doubt, they play significant role in ensuring law and order in the society which in turn result in successful implementation of justice. It is also opined that the Police may wrongly exercise their powers so that some innocent persons are also punished in some cases. It is true to some extent, as it is common that while implementing justice in larger area, some mistakes may be committed. If any Police gets involved in wrong actions intentionally, he would be punished. If it is unintentional, the benefit of doubt may be given in favor of the Police officer. The Police are also given instructions not to misutilize their powers which may cause inconvenience to the general public. Hence, the law enforcement agencies like Federal Police, State Police and County Police have to balance their powers for the establishment of welfare society. c. Identify three examples of changes that the law enforcement in United States has undergone as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Are the changes following September 11, 2001 positive or negative and what impact does these changes have on global security? Are the changes worthwhile or unnecessary? Were the changes met with resistance by professionals in the field? Were the changes met with resistance by the public? Explain efforts taken to overcome any resistance. Would these changes likely have occurred even without such a drastic triggering event? Explain. United States of America initiated several reforms in the criminal justice following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This holds good in case of law enforcement or Police system. The main objective of the reforms in the law enforcement is to safeguard the national security and personal life. As several persons of outside or foreign origin entered USA through various illegal means, the efforts were taken to identify the culprits on war foot basis. This necessitated USA government to enhance the police manpower suddenly through new and rigorous recruitment and they were given special training in anti terrorist mission. The law enforcement agencies were also given instructions and guidance to provide general awareness among the common people to take utmost care to identify unnatural movements of any new persons and inform the Police immediately. The hotels and other agencies were instructed to record the details of the persons or guests and keep the copy of their identification. Most importantly, the Police were given enormous powers to control the anti social elements in the society. Their investigative powers were also enhanced and their linkage with FBI and National Security Agency was strengthened. For example, Presidential Order was signed in 2002 which permitted the National Security Agency to search for evidence of terrorist activities with out any court warrants in the interests of the national security and the intelligence agency was also authorized to international telephonic calls and international e-mail messages to avoid any possible terrorist attacks (Risen and Lichtblau, 2005). These changes can be considered as highly positive to ensure the criminal justice in the society especially in controlling the terrorism, hence they may be considered as worthwhile. However, this also resulted in some negative changes in US society in the form of inconvenience to innocent public in the name of processing of documents and checking and hence general public have shown some extent of resistance to these new changes. Another negative development was in the form of restriction of visas to USA from other nations due to which several genuine people who have tremendous technical potential couldn’t be recruited which affected the productivity of industries in USA. This has also resulted in some extent of resistance by professionals who were affected by unemployment. Overall, the new changes in law enforcement were made in the interests of the safety of the general public and for national security and hence US government could counsel different sections of the public that they should cooperate with the administration for avoiding any future terrorist attack of September 11 scale. No doubt, the US government wouldn’t have taken such major reforms in law enforcement had the incident of terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 not taken place. The US citizens also could understand that these new strict measures are highly essential for the establishment of terrorist free US society and they started cooperating. Moreover, to control drug trafficking USA made collaborative efforts with the nations like Mexico and Colombia which resulted in significant reduction in crime related to drug trafficking (Archibold, 2011). However, more coordinated efforts are called for making effective drug control in future. d. What do you see as the three biggest challenges, in the next ten years, for the law enforcement in global criminal justice system? Explain your reasons for identifying the three challenges you selected. Were there other challenges you considered? What were these? How do you suggest the law enforcement handle the challenges it faces? The three biggest challenges for the law enforcement in various regions of the world for the next ten years include terrorism, regionalism and drug trafficking. Terrorism has already shown its negative effects in the society in almost all the regions of the world. September 11 (2001) attacks of Al Qaeda on World trade Centre in USA only suggested the higher extent of terrorist ideology. Similarly, London blasts in 2005 and Indian Parliament attack in 2001 suggest the global nature of terrorist attacks which is highly detrimental for the human welfare. In the coming next ten years, the element of terrorism is expected to further intensify challenging the democratic principles and present criminal justice system. The terrorists have always been trying to spread their ideology to some sections of people who would be motivated in the name of religion and region. Therefore, terrorism can be identified as most important challenge to criminal justice system in future. Hence, the potential threat comes form this menace and the law enforcement agencies must be trained effectively to tackle this problem. As terrorism is spread globally, to tackle it successfully, integrated approach is required by taking the assistance of law enforcement agencies of various other nations and by coordinating the combined efforts in a systematic and strategic manner. The other big challenges to aw enforcement are in the form of regionalism and drug trafficking. Some people try to create anti national feeling by making agitations against the poor regional development for fulfilling their political ambitions which may create unrest among some sections of the society and this may become a potential challenge to law enforcement. The Police face stiff resistance from these regional groups as they wrongly motivate common people to participate in the agitations. Regionalism is also considered as major challenge to the law enforcement as it challenges the very basic concept of national integration and creates a feeling of separatism among some specific sections of the society. The law enforcement agencies must try to identify the persons who are mainly responsible for creating this negative feelings followed by taking immediate legal action against them. At the same time, the common people must be counseled or guided regarding the possible consequences of joining or supporting the regional forces. The law enforcement agencies also face severe challenge from the drug trafficking. Several international illegal agencies and persons are involved in drug trafficking which is severely detrimental to the welfare of the society. The youth gets severely addicted by these drugs and the Police face stiff resistance from these sections of the people. The drug trafficking is identified as a severe challenge to law enforcement as it reduces the productivity of human man power in general and youth in particular which may also result in other consequences like social isolation and higher crime rate. The strong coordinated efforts and information sharing among Federal Police, State Police, County Police, National Security Agency and FBI would be instrumental in curbing this menace. e. Prediction. What is your prediction for the future of law enforcement component of the global criminal justice system? Law enforcement component is predicted to operate with highest level of flexibility as the nature and extent of crime undergoes tremendous change in future. As the elements of educationally higher standard people are attracted to terrorism in some parts of the world, they tend to utilize most advanced science and technology for the manufacture and operation of weapons and missiles of mass destruction, hence, the intelligence wing of law enforcement agencies must be upgraded to the highest level of purity in the coming years. The Police would be provided with specialized and handy weapons for controlling criminals and National Law Enforcement Telecommunication System would be strengthened further in future for better monitoring the criminal activities. There is a strong need to strengthen the research and analysis teams and coordinate its efforts with the other agencies like FBI so that faster processing and investigation of criminal cases would be done. For example, after the terrorist attack of WTC by Al Qaeda, the US government has taken significant measures to modernize the law enforcement wing, delegated higher powers to the middle and lower tiers of Police in dealing the terrorist cases and cases related to national security which worked tremendously in controlling the crime rate in USA. This has also avoided any other terrorist attack in USA after 2001. At the same time, alertness is required to check the entry of illegal elements in to the territories of USA in future for which strong and innovative law enforcement measures are highly essential. There is also a scope for entering of bad elements in to educational institutes for their safe passage or harbor which may be controlled by strong network of law enforcement intelligence and Police and modern ways of communication systems spread over all the different sectors of the society. Another most important aspect is that terrorism is globally spread and hence its effective control requires integrated law enforcement management practices not only at national level but also at international level. Keeping this in view, to curb this menace of terrorism, sharing of strategic information related to various terrorist activities of different nations would be of immense help for effective law enforcement which in turn facilitates criminal justice in future. References Mays, G.L. & Ruddell, R. (2007). Making Sense of Criminal Justice : Policies and Practices. Oxford University Press Publication. P:368. ISBN-10: 9780195332445. Neubauer, D.W. & Fradella, H.F. (2010). America’s Courts and the Criminal Justice System. Wadsworth Publication. 10th edition. P:656. ISBN-10: 049580990X. Risen, J. & Lichtblau, E. (2005). Bush lets US Spy on Callers with out Courts. The New York Times Dated 16th December, 2005. Sandel, M.J. (2009). What’s the Right Thing to Do? Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication, First Publication. P:320. ISBN-10: 0374180652. Siegel, L.J. & Senna, J.J. (2007). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Wadsworth Publication. 11th edition. P:688. ISBN-10: 0495095419. Archibold, R.C. (2011). Suspicion and Disunity Impede Central America’s Effort to Fight Drug Violence. The New York Times Dated 8th June, 2011. Read More